Part two of a two-part series that explores how Santa Monica has resisted tall buildings in the last three decades.

March 7, 2013 – With three towers exceeding 20 stories proposed for Downtown Santa Monica, a three-decade long debate has once again begun. Should Santa Monica, one of the densest cities in southern California, build up?

Ever since Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR) gained control of the City Council 1981, there have been limits imposed on building heights in the 8.3-square-mile city on the beach. Those limits were codified in the 1984 General Plan, restricting buildings to anywhere from three stories to seven, depending on their location.

Now after 30 years, Santa Monica’s skyline is poised to change. The Downtown Specific Plan, currently in the works, may make caveats for developers wanting to build up in certain locations, despite height limits throughout the rest of the area.

The plan would designate “opportunity sites” where the City could negotiate development agreements (DAs) with owners wishing to build beyond the Specific Plan's height and density restrictions in exchange for community benefits such as open space, affordable housing and shared parking.

The Miramar site, where developers are proposing a 261-foot tower; a two-acre parcel at Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, where developers are proposing a 244-foot Frank Gehry-designed hotel; and the Holiday Inn site, where owners have floated the idea of building a 195-foot tower, are slated for three of the opportunity sites.

But Santa Monica is a City where community activists successfully opposed two major attempts to build highrises in the beachside City – a proposed hotel on the beach in 1990 and the redevelopement of Santa Monica Place in 2004.

If history is any indication, the three proposed towers could face a difficult road ahead.

The first of the two projects that tested the community’s tolerance for height came in 1990, when restaurateur Michael McCarty floated a plan to build a luxury hotel on the coast that quickly drew the ire of residents who organized to keep their ocean views.

They drafted a ballot measure – Proposition S – that would ban building new hotels west of Ocean Avenue, effectively scuttling McCarty's plans.

“It costs a lot of money to develop property,” said Sharon Gilpin, a former planning commissioner, who was one of the architects of the measure. “In order to profit, (hotels) have to build up.”

Gilpin said that she and other residents saw that if hotels were allowed to build west of Ocean Avenue, it would only be a matter of time before Santa Monica “would look like Miami Beach.”

“We did not want to stop any housing from being built,” she said, adding that the concern was hotels.

For Gilpin and other concerned residents, Proposition S, was about preserving access and views of the beach for residents. But Prop S revealed divisions among Santa Monica's political leadership.

“Prop S was done completely outside of SMRR,” Gilpin said. “It was against SMRR leadership. The SMRR board was in favor of all the hotel projects along the beachfront.”

Despite failing to win SMRR’s support, Prop S easily passed with 62 percent of the vote.

McCarty told the press after his plans for the luxury hotel fell through, “I think what happened was that we somehow became a symbol for all the overwhelming frustration people felt towards the politicians and the developers here.”

The property was never developed and is now operated by the City as the historic Annenberg Beach House.

The community's tense relationship with height has continued into the new century.

In 2004, plans by Macerich to “reimagine” the Santa Monica Place site by building three 21-story towers with condos above a platform of stores, unleashed familiar political forces in the City, forces that believed Santa Monica wasn't the place for tall developments.

The project spurred the creation of the Santa Monica Coalition for a Liveable City (SMCLC), which organized to halt what its members saw as a massive development. The plan was rejected by the City Council, which sent Macerich back to the drawing board.

The result was a redevelopment of the existing indoor mall into an open-air venue. But some of those on the council felt that an opportunity had been lost.

“The Council made a mistake when it failed to negotiate a deal with Macerich,” said former Santa Monica mayor Michael Feinstein. “We didn't need to go to 21-stories in order to have a project that would've enabled us to put all the parking below ground and extend the Promenade all the way through to the Civic Center.

“We had a developer who was creative and wanted to deal,” Feinstein said. “And instead, even though we were in control, the Council and the community freaked out and scared him off entirely.”

With the three proposed towers in the pipeline, Feinstein hopes the mistake isn't repeated.

“Just because we have these people now who want to go 22-stories on Ocean Avenue, we need to be able to be in control and negotiate in order to get a deal that we like,” he said.

So, is there room for height in modern-day Santa Monica?

“This is a process that is going to have to play itself out,” said former Mayor Judy Abdo. “I think people are much more aware of the need for space around buildings.”

With height, there should be trade-offs, Abdo said. “One of the tradeoffs for height could be and, I think, should be, some sort of public access at the top,” she said. “One of the good things about tall buildings is that there is a fabulous view from the top.”

But Santa Monica must carefully weigh the benefits and drawbacks of tall buildings that would permanently change the landscape of the City.

If it weren't for the 1984 General Plan, Abdo said, “Wilshire in Santa Monica would look like Wilshire looks on the other side of the border in West L.A.”

But, she added, “wouldn't be interesting if we had a few tall buildings.”